A railway bridge in Wem, Shropshire will be replaced this year to provide more reliable journeys for passengers and road users in the area

Network Rail will be carrying out the replacement of the railway bridge on Mill Street in Wem later this year but ahead of this will be holding two drop-in events.

The events will take place at Wem Town Hall on Thursday the 21st of October from 9am to 12pm and also Monday the 1st of November from 4pm to 7pm. The drop-ins will provide an opportunity for the local community to find out more about the work being carried out.

Mill Street will see a temporary closure under the railway bridge to allow the work to go ahead safely. The closure will take place from Saturday the 4th to Wednesday the 29th of December and a signed diversion route will be put in place on B5063/Shawbury Road, A49 and B5065/Soulton road.

The main body of the work will take place from 11pm on Friday the 24th of December until 4am on Wednesday the 29th of December with the team working right around the clock whilst trains are not running. This part of the work will mean that a single lane closure and traffic lights will be in place at the roundabout between the B4576 and the B5063. There will also be a full closure of the roundabout for 15 minutes on Sunday the 26th of December, whilst the new bridge is put into place. Pedestrian access will still be available underneath the bridge when work isn’t taking place.

The new bridge will be put in place using a self-propelled modular transporter (SPMT) which is why a temporary full road closure is only needed for 15 minutes.

From the middle of November, the Network Rail team will set up a temporary site compound in the adjacent field to the railway track.

Rail replacement buses will be running on Monday the 27th and Tuesday the 28th of December between Shrewsbury and Crewe.

Follow up work will be taking place until the middle of January 2022.

Laura Townsend, scheme project manager for Network Rail said: “We’d like to thank the local community in advance for their patience as we carry out this essential work to replace the bridge on Mill Street.

“Renewing this bridge will enable us to continue to run a safe and efficient railway resulting in better journeys for rail passengers and road users in the future.

“We know that there is never an ideal time to carry out work involving a road closure but using an SPMT to drive the bridge into place means we can minimise the impact on the local community as much as possible.

Councillor Dean Carroll, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for highways, said: “We appreciate that this work will cause disruption while the road is closed, and we want to minimise any inconvenience caused.

“We’re working closely with Network Rail to ensure that local people and businesses are aware of the work, and to ensure that appropriate diversion routes and traffic management measures are in place whilst work is being carried out.”

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